Before He Cheats
by LifeIsTooQuick
Summary: To cheer her up about her cancelled date, Angel takes Mimi out to a new karaoke bar. There, they spot Benny-with someone who's not Mimi. They then enact revenge on the dirty cheater. Song-fic PreRent Summary sucks, I know-sorry.


_I was bored last night, so I wrote this. :p The idea's been in my head since last Summer. I was listening to Carrie Underwood's "Before He Cheats" and I thought "That sounds like something Mimi and Angel would do." thus this fic was born! I'm also excited, because I finally got to write a fic with some Angel-Mimi interaction, which makes me happy. :p_

_Thanx to Steph, my awesome beta-reader._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Rent tear, nor do I own Carrie Underwood is fine with this_

_Enjoy. :)_

_Right now he's probably slow dancing with a bleach blond tramp,  
and she's probably getting frisky..._

"I can't believe I let you drag me here," Mimi said, only slightly as sulky as she was before.

"Oh, come on, we're going to have a blast. You'll see. This will totally take your mind of off Benny canceling on you," Angel responded encouragingly as they walked through the door of the karaoke bar Angel had picked out for them to go to.

"You know, I had _almost_ forgotten about that. Thanks for bringing it up."

"Oh, quiet. Besides, this is just what you need. A night out with just the two of us."

She quickly found a table near the middle of the room and sat down. Mimi sat in front of her, her back to the door and picked up a menu to see what kind of food they served here.

Mimi was _supposed_ to be going out with Benny tonight, but he canceled on her last minute, so Angel suggested they try out this new place one of her friends had told her about. The place was on the other side of the city, which meant Mimi was subjected to fifteen minutes of terror as Angel drove through the city, trying to find the place.

"This is going to be so much fun," Angel prattled on, looking at her own menu, "We can eat some food, party, get drunk and karaoke."

"Or karaoke and _then _get drunk."

"No, no. get drunk first. _Then_ karaoke."

"Why?"

"I believe everybody should get drunk and karaoke at least once in their lives. Just for the experience." **(A/N: Right, Kaitlyn? :p)**

Mimi laughed at that.

"Ok, girl, whatever you say."

Angel looked up from her menu to ask Mimi what she thought about their salads and whether they actually made them fresh, or just picked the meat off the top of already made ones when one was ordered, but stopped once she got a glance at who was walking in the door behind Mimi. It was Benny-and he wasn't alone. Walking through the door, hanging onto his arm like she needed it to walk was some blond girl. And by the way they were talking to each other and smiling, Angel would bet that they weren't related, and certainly not just friends.

Angel felt her eyes widen in their sockets. Unfortunately, Mimi glanced up just in time to see this reaction from her friend.

"What?" she asked, turning around in her seat to see what Angel was staring at.

"Uh… Look!" Angel dove across the table, shoving the menu right in front of Mimi's face to block her view. "They have seventeen different martinis-_seventeen. _We are truly on the rich side of town now, girlfriend."

"Ok…" Mimi said slowly, giving Angel a weird look. As soon as Angel had settled back into her seat she whipped around quickly to see what Angel had been looking at. Angel dove again to block her view, but not fast enough. Mimi gasped and whipped back around to stare at Angel. "What the fuck is he doing here?!"

"I don't know."  
"And who the fuck is that blond little tramp?"

"His neighbor."

Mimi stared at her.

"Well, you were asking me like I knew, so I figured I should give you _some_ kind of an answer." Angel attempt at lightening the mood did not help, though Mimi appreciated her for the effort.

Mimi felt slightly nauseous. Something like this had never happened to her before. She had never been cheated on before. But, as she stared across the room at Benny as he swayed slightly to the music with his arms draped around the blond girl, there was no denying that Benny was cheating on her. As if to confirm this even further, as she watched he leaned down and kissed the girl. Mimi turned her attention back to Angel, all her old insecurities from high school coming back to her-showed up by the pretty blond, once again.

"I don't feel well, let's go home," she said, starting to stand up.

"Uh-uh. No, we're not. You sit your ass right there. We are not going to let that asshole ruin this night." Mimi wanted to argue, but Angel seemed adamant about staying. "We are going to stay here and have fun, all right?"

Mimi nodded slowly, sitting back down in her seat, but she was far from wanting to have fun.

_Right now, he's probably buying her some fruity little drink cause she can't shoot whiskey..._

All night Mimi couldn't stop her eyes from straying over to Benny and the mystery blond.

"That's it, I'm going to go over there and find out what's what with this girl," Angel suddenly said, standing up.

"What?" Mimi exclaimed, "How do you plan on doing that?"

"I'll manage. Watch me." Angel winked at her and then walked over to the bar area. Someone's unused apron hung up on a hook just inside the bar. Angel reached over and grabbed it, slipping it on, before walking over to Benny and the blond. For the first time she was glad Benny constantly made up excuses whenever Mimi tried to introduce the two.

"High, I'll be your waitress," Angel had to glance down at her nametag quickly before finishing. Luckily neither of her "customers" noticed, "Marissa. What can I get you?"

"What do you want, baby?" Benny asked the blond and she spent what felt like an eternity looking over the menu.

"I'm not really hungry… I'll just have an appletini, but could you go light on the vodka, please?" She had a high-pitched slightly nagging-type voice that made Angel think of nails on a chalkboard.

"Sure," Angel had to work very hard to keep a smile on her face. She turned to Benny, "And you?"  
"I'll have the same."

"Ok. You two are so cute together, is this your first date?"

"No," the blond answered before Benny got a chance to even open his mouth, "We're here to celebrate our first anniversary."  
"Anniversary?!" Angel exclaimed. She quickly composed herself after noticing the look on the couple's faces, "Um… Wow… Married this young. That's amazing." She then quickly hurried away, lightly tossing the apron onto the floor near the bar entryway.

"Well?" Mimi asked curiously as Angel sat back down across from her, quickly pickign up a menu and occupying herself with it.

"Are you hungry? Because I'm not really that hungry. Maybe we should just order a couple of drinks and then get out of here."

"Angel!"  
"What?"  
"What's the deal with this other girl?"

"Um…" Angel looked uncomfortable at this. "She's not really the 'other girl', exactly…"

"What are you talking about?" Mimi didn't understand what she meant by _that. _Was Benny not cheating on her? It sure as hell looked like he did.

"Um… You are…"

Mimi took a moment to process that.

"I am… what?"

"The other girl. Benny's married. That's his wife. They're here for their first anniversary."

"You're fucking kidding me." Mimi sat back in her chair, staring at the table blankly. _This_ had never happened to her before, either.

"I'm sorry." They were both silent as Angel tried to think of some way to cheer Mimi up. "You know what? Fuck him. He's not worth it."

"Now I really want to go home." Mimi dropped her head on the table, laying it on top of her arms and trying not to cry.

"No, Mimi chica, we are going to have a good time tonight. I refuse to let him ruin this night for you. Now, what do you want to order?"

_Right now, he's probably up behind her with a pool-stick, showing her how to shoot a combo..._

"It's really sick the excuses some guys will use to grab a girl's ass," Angel pointed out half an hour later. Benny and his wife had gotten tired of waiting for their drinks, so Benny decided to show the girl how to shoot pool. Although, Angel suspected the girl wasn't as clueless as to the workings of the game as she appeared. She just put on the show to make her husband feel better and to give him and excuse to grab her ass. All ill feeling toward the girl had gone out the window after Angel realized she was married, meaning Benny was cheating on her. With Angel's best friend, but still cheating on her nonetheless.

"I just want to walk over their and tell her who her husband really is," Mimi muttered under her breath.

"Mimi chica, don't worry about it, all right? That man is scum and it's going to come back to haunt him. Better to just let things work out their own way. It'll be better in the long run and doesn't make you look like a bitter harpy."

Mimi sighed and sat back, watchign them for a few seconds longer. Then she began to laugh.

"How long do you suppose before they realize their drinks aren't coming?" she asked. Angel laughed.

"I give it another thirty minutes."

_Right now, she's probably up singing some  
white-trash version of Shania karaoke.._

It took fifteen. And then another fifteen minutes later Benny's wife was at the mic. "Singing".

"That cannot be legal," Angel commented. Her singing voice was worse than her speaking voice. If that was even possible.

"I used to like Shania Twain," Mimi commented, "I mean, I can't stand Country, but she had some good songs. She is now forever ruined for me."

"Is there a salad bar around here? Maybe we can find some tomatoes to throw at her." Angel began looking around for some. Mimi laughed. She knew Angel wasn't normally this mean-spirited and even if there was a salad bar around would never actually throw anything at the poor girl. But she was trying to cheer Mimi up, and Mimi was grateful for the effort.

_Right now, she's probably saying "I'm drunk"  
and he's a thinking that he's gonna get lucky,_

Another hour later and Angel saw why the girl had ordered an appletini "light on the vodka". She was giggling uncontrollably and barely able to stay sitting upright in her chair.

"Dios mio. She only had, like, three of those things. What the hell?" Mimi said, watching as the girl knocked her coaster off the table, then bent over to pick it up, falling off her chair in the process. She sat on the ground laughing hysterically. Benny got up to help her get back onto her chair, but she shooed him away, laughing and pulling herself back up onto the chair. Mimi wondered how long it would be before the two left and winced at the thought.

_Right now, he's probably dabbing on 3 dollars worth of that bathroom polo..._

Mimi watched Benny leave his table and head into the bathroom.

"I'm gonna follow him," Angel commented, grabbing her purse and standing up.

"You're going to what?" Mimi asked. That was unusual. Whenever she was in drag, Angel always went into the women's bathroom, she liked them better and often got odd looks in the men's bathroom-which quickly grew odder as the observing person realized they were not, in fact, looking at a lost woman, but a man dressed as a woman.

"Follow him."

"Won't he recognize you as the waitress from earlier?"

"He's a guy, he's not going to notice." And with that, Angel promptly headed for men's bathroom.

Angel hated men's bathrooms. They were always dirty and messed up and had the dumbest things scrawled on their walls. She walked over to the mirror and began checking her hair and make-up, while the guy at the next sink over gave her odd looks.

"What?" she asked coldly and the guy quickly left the bathroom. Angel rolled her eyes and pulled out her eyeliner to fix where it had smudged slightly. From the corner of her eye she saw Benny walk over to the other sink and wash his hands. He barely gave her a second glance. That was slightly comforting; it was always nice to not be gawked at. He then pulled out some cologne and rubbed some on himself.

"Here on a date?" Angel asked, careful to change her voice from what she had sued on him earlier. She was right, he didn't recognize her.

"Yep. Celebrating my first anniversary."

"Aww, that's nice."

"Yeah, I guess…"  
"Not happy with the misses?"

"Well, she tends to get a little… naggy and bitchy sometimes."

"After one year?"

"That's women for you. They're always so hard to follow and change their moods at the drop of a hat. Which is why you sometimes have to have a slight back-up on the side." He stuck his cologne back into his pocket and walked out the door, leaving Angel with a feeling of wanting to punch something.

Angel left the bathroom and sat down across from Mimi, not particularly wanting to relay the conversation she had just had. Mimi, apparently, didn't want to know, since she didn't question her.

The two stared across the room at Benny and his wife, lost in their thoughts. Then the girl stood up, said something to Benny, and headed for the microphone again.

"Oh, no, she's going up there again," Angel remarked with horror, "Let's get out of here before she starts wailign again." She stood up and grabbed their bill, heading off to finda waitress to pay.

"Gladly." Mimi slipped her coat on, grabbed her purse and quickly followed Angel.

_And he don't know...  
That I dug my key into the side of his pretty little souped up 4 wheel drive,  
carved my name into his leather seats..._

"Well, that night was a dud. I'm sorry, chica," Angel said, pulling her keys out as they walked through the parking lot to where Angel had parked.

"It's ok. It's not your fault. I'm just wondering what the hell I'm going to do about Benny."

"Dump his ass."

"Duh. I just mean how I'm going to do it."

"Walk up to him, say 'You're a dick. We're through.' and walk away. You might also want to slap him."

Mimi laughed. It died away, though, and she let out a slight groan when she spotted Benny's car.

"What?" Angel asked.  
"That's his car." Mimi motioned to Benny's shiny BMW. Angel let out a low whistle.

"Damn, that's a good car…" Mimi nodded in agreement. Angel walked forward tot eh driver's side door. Then she ran her key all along the edge of it. Mimi stared at her in shock.

"Hmm…" Angel commented, "What a shame about that scratch, though. He should _really_ get that fixed." Mimi laughed. Then she stepped forward, took the key from Angel, and began to make scratch marks of her own. It felt surprisingly vindicating. Mimi suddenly felt very vandalous.

"Hey, Angel…"

"Yeah?" Angel asked cautiously, giving her friend a wary look.

"Do you still have that bat in your car?"

_I took a Louisville slugger to both headlights,  
slashed a hole in all 4 tires..._

Angel carried a bat in her car for protection against car jackers and other people she might need protection against when out in her car. Currently, Mimi held it in her hand, preparing to take out Benny's front headlight. She had never played baseball, but was sure that with the force she swung the bat, she'd have made a homerun.The crunching sound it made and the shattering of glass was very satisfying. Mimi pulled the bat back to swing again, at another area of the car.

"This is for telling me you were single!" she eclaimed, shattering the glass of the driver's window. "This is for every stupid date you ever took me on!" now the back seat's window was gone "This is for every lying kiss you ever gave me!" she dented the door "This is for telling me you loved me!" she took out the back window, tears now streaming down her face "And this is for making me love you back!" she sobbed out swining it hard against the car one last time. She dropped the bat and fell to the ground, sobbing out all the tears she had held back at the bar. Angel kneeled by her side and wrapped her arms around her, whispering words of comfort to her.

Finally, Mimi had cried herself out and she got up off the ground with Angel's help.

"Better?" Angel asked. Mimi looked around at all the broken glass and the mangled heap that was once Benny's car. She let out a small strangled laugh.

"Yeah. I'm fine." Angel wrapped one arm around Mimi's shoulders and picked up her bat with the other and began heading toward her car. "I just don't get why all the guys I get involved with have to be such total jackasses."  
"Well, honey, that just means that when you finally find the right guy he'll be that much more amazing."

"How many more guys do you suppose I'll have to go through before I find him?"

"Honey, if I knew that would I still be single?"

Mimi let out a laugh and gave Angel a small hug.

"Thanks, Angel, you're my best friend, you know that?"

"Yeah," she sad, hugging her back, "You're mine too. I'm always here for you, girl. Especially if it involves destroying your cheating boyfriend's car."

Mimi laughed and the two began to head back for the car, wondering how Benny and his wife would be getting home tonight…

_Maybe next time he'll think before he cheats._

_So, how did you guys like it? That was my first song fic, so please be kind. :p_

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